Chrono Cross / Vagrant Story - PS Games

[Aliem]

I played Chrono Cross through when it first came out. The unique gameplay was pretty incredible, but I really feel the massive amount of playable characters hindered the game; I would have liked fewer, more developed characters myself. I have been meaning to play it through again for a while.

I've never played Vagrant Story, and I have no idea why. I'm gonna put that on the top of my list.

[mrz84]

Chrono Cross is a fav in my family since we first played it. Haven't played it in awhile due to one reason or another, but its still a good game in its own right I think.

Haven't played Vagrant Story yet, but have been wanting to for the longest time. That and Dragon Quest/Warrior 7 (3DS port/remake coming to 3DS, woot!)

I recommend the Valkyrie Profile games. They are great games, as well as the prequel (on ps2) and sequel (ds, though it might be a spin-off, idk, haven't
played it yet), too.

I've only played the first two Breath of Fire games (I have BoF2 on the Wii VC), but have wanted to play the other games. Too bad the
only copies of Bof# I can find for psp are international copies, while 4 is on psn, but I haven't bought it yet (wanna play 3 first)

The SaGa games are good, too. Though I didn't start playing them until Unlimited Saga and Romancing Saga on ps2.

[King Aquamentus]

I played Chrono Cross through when it first came out. The unique gameplay was pretty incredible, but I really feel the massive amount of playable characters hindered the game; I would have liked fewer, more developed characters myself.

It's funny you mention that. Magus, from Chrono Trigger, was going to be a playable character in the game (just as he was in Radical Dreamers), but due to the large number of playable characters, whatever he did or said in the endgame would have dramatically overshadowed everyone else, and it's a little hard to write endings for 42 other characters that are on par with "Janus reunited with Schala"

[Glenn the Great]

BTW, Serge + Glenn + Orlha FTW.

[vegeta1215]

I had mixed feelings about Chrono Cross, mainly because many of the Chrono Trigger connections felt really forced, and there was so much exposition (especially at the end), but I did have fun playing it. I wrote a review for Chrono Cross on AGN long ago, but I don't think the post is there anymore - it may have been pruned.

UPDATE: I found my old review! I thought I made my own thread for it, but it was actually buried in another one: http://armageddongames.net/showthrea...l=1#post634266

[Glenn the Great]

UPDATE: I found my old review! I thought I made my own thread for it, but it was actually buried in another one: http://armageddongames.net/showthrea...l=1#post634266

I just read your review, Vegeta, and your thoughts pretty much sum up exactly how I felt about the game.

I too found it very confusing and hard to keep track of what happened in Home World vs. Another World.
I remember having several frustrating episodes of going to an area in one world, only to discover that I wasted my time because I needed to be at the same place but in the OTHER world.

By the time I finished the game, I wasn't really sure what the fuck I had really accomplished or why I even had to do these things in the first place. It wasn't until I read a pages-long story explanation on the Chrono Compendium website that I sort of understood what was going on. I guess their explanation makes logical sense, but some of it is just too fantastic to be believable, such as the notion that many of the game's events were orchestrated by Balthazar like we were pawns in one big inter-universal chess game. I get that Balthazar being one of the 3 gurus is supposed to have god-like intelligence, but he should stick to inventing airplanes and time machines next time.

I wasn't so great a fan of the battle system. While I did enjoy the feel of dishing out multiple melee attacks per turn couple with the satisfying controller rumble with each blow, I felt that the free-wheeling element system combined with the lack of double techniques kill the strategic element in battle.

In Chrono Trigger, you had the following to strategically consider:

- Party composition: Each character had a fixed list of abilities, only deals certain types of elemental damage, and may or may not have healing capabilities. You have to make sure that your party covers all the bases, offensively and defensively, for whatever enemies you are up against.
- Battle decisions: You have to decide when is the appropriate time to use a Double Techs vs. having everyone fight individually. For example, there's this powerful enemy that is weak to lightning. Do I have Chrono and Frog team up to use Spire on it, or do I have Frog heal the party while Chrono and Lucca deal damage together or individually? If Chrono and Lucca fight individually this round, do they use regular attacks to conserve mana, or do they blow it using spells?

In Chrono Cross, you pretty much pick whatever party tickles your fancy and then spend 5 minutes giving them your pick of all the magic spells you've found during the entire course of the game. Every character can be a healer and be able to deal damage of any element type. Everyone can be a generalist and no one has to specialize in anything. Every battle is the same routine: characters use regular attacks to charge up their spells, then use whatever spells are most appropriate for the enemies at hand. Not having MP to worry about means that you can use the same strategy and your most damaging spells against every encounter, regular or boss. The only thing you do differently against a boss is to take the time to buff up your party so you can deal more/take less damage. It's rinse-wash-repeat for every battle and made battles a tiring and repetitive exercise.

I also hated the fact that characters that were dead when a boss died didn't partake in the massive stat increases that only happen after killing bosses. I had a few characters that were seriously gimped and had to be replaced because they didn't survive enough boss fights and weren't able to keep up with the ones that did.